Classes and workshops are ongoing throughout the day.
Tickets include entrance to any classes within the time slot shown on your ticket, but space is limited.
Tickets include entrance to any classes within the time slot shown on your ticket, but space is limited.
Friday Evening (6:00pm-9:00pm)
Auditorium
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm Alyssa D'Adamo (Executive Director, HCP), Richard Tango-Lowy (HCP Board President), Lyndel Meinhardt (Lead Geneticist USDA-ARS)
Title: Heirloom Awards Ceremony
Join the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund at the DC Chocolate Festival on Friday, April 24th where we will officially unveil three new Heirloom Farmers, honoring the farmers who cultivate the world’s rarest and most extraordinary beans.
The ceremony will offer an inside look at the unique genetic profiles of these newly recognized beans and honor the award-winning producers behind them. Immediately following the presentation, the celebration continues just outside the auditorium with an exclusive sampling of each newly-awarded cacao. Be amongst the first to experience the extraordinary flavor profiles of each new origin through curated chocolate samples and to connect with the industry leaders driving the movement for cacao biodiversity.
Title: Heirloom Awards Ceremony
Join the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund at the DC Chocolate Festival on Friday, April 24th where we will officially unveil three new Heirloom Farmers, honoring the farmers who cultivate the world’s rarest and most extraordinary beans.
The ceremony will offer an inside look at the unique genetic profiles of these newly recognized beans and honor the award-winning producers behind them. Immediately following the presentation, the celebration continues just outside the auditorium with an exclusive sampling of each newly-awarded cacao. Be amongst the first to experience the extraordinary flavor profiles of each new origin through curated chocolate samples and to connect with the industry leaders driving the movement for cacao biodiversity.
Tasting Room
7:15 pm - 8:00 pm Balu M. Balasubramanian (Co-founder, Cocoatown)
Title: Bean to Tempered Bar - Craft Chocolate Process
Explore the journey from cacao bean to perfectly tempered chocolate bar in this live demonstration session led by Cocoatown co-founder, Dr. Balu. Learn the key steps and techniques behind crafting high-quality chocolate from scratch.
Title: Bean to Tempered Bar - Craft Chocolate Process
Explore the journey from cacao bean to perfectly tempered chocolate bar in this live demonstration session led by Cocoatown co-founder, Dr. Balu. Learn the key steps and techniques behind crafting high-quality chocolate from scratch.
8:15 pm - 9:00 pm Estelle Tracy (Chocolate Sommelier, 37 Chocolates)
Title: Chocolate in Paris — A Cliché-Free Snapshot of Today’s Parisian Chocolate Scene
Americans often romanticize Paris, but what does the city’s chocolate scene really look like? French-born chocolate sommelier Estelle Tracy will take you beyond the clichés through a tasting of three standout Parisian chocolate companies: Debauve & Gallais, the historic brand with royal roots; Jean-Paul Hévin, recently named the world’s best pastry chef and chocolatier; and Plaq, a modern pioneer of the Parisian bean-to-bar movement.
Title: Chocolate in Paris — A Cliché-Free Snapshot of Today’s Parisian Chocolate Scene
Americans often romanticize Paris, but what does the city’s chocolate scene really look like? French-born chocolate sommelier Estelle Tracy will take you beyond the clichés through a tasting of three standout Parisian chocolate companies: Debauve & Gallais, the historic brand with royal roots; Jean-Paul Hévin, recently named the world’s best pastry chef and chocolatier; and Plaq, a modern pioneer of the Parisian bean-to-bar movement.
Saturday Morning (10:30am-2:00pm)
Auditorium
11:00 am - 11:45 am Leila Carvajal (Chemical engineer & CEO of Cocoa Supply)
Title: From Chakra to Scale: A Road Trip Through Ecuador’s Cacao Agro-Diversity
Travel across my homeland through six radically different Ecuadorian cacao farms, from indigenous Chakras to the precision of high-output estates. Discover how each reflects a unique reality shaped by land, tradition, and market access, offering a rare, ground-level perspective on the diversity of the bean and the human stories behind Ecuador’s global cacao legacy.
Title: From Chakra to Scale: A Road Trip Through Ecuador’s Cacao Agro-Diversity
Travel across my homeland through six radically different Ecuadorian cacao farms, from indigenous Chakras to the precision of high-output estates. Discover how each reflects a unique reality shaped by land, tradition, and market access, offering a rare, ground-level perspective on the diversity of the bean and the human stories behind Ecuador’s global cacao legacy.
12:00 pm - 12:45 pm Lauren Adler (Chief Exploration Officer, The Chocolate Explorers Club)
Title: The 3 Things That Actually Matter on a Chocolate Label
Picking a great chocolate bar starts with knowing how to read the label. Lauren Adler, specialty chocolate expert and founder of The Chocolate Explorers Club, shares the three things she looks for on every bar. Walk away with a simple, practical framework you can put to work on the festival floor the same day.
Title: The 3 Things That Actually Matter on a Chocolate Label
Picking a great chocolate bar starts with knowing how to read the label. Lauren Adler, specialty chocolate expert and founder of The Chocolate Explorers Club, shares the three things she looks for on every bar. Walk away with a simple, practical framework you can put to work on the festival floor the same day.
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm Estelle Tracy (Chocolate Sommelier, 37 Chocolates)
Title: Chocolates: From Sacred Food to Modern Treat
Explore the cultural evolution of chocolate across continents and centuries with chocolate sommelier Estelle Tracy. Featuring historical recipes and images from the Winterthur Museum collection, this illustrated talk celebrates the country’s 250th anniversary, focusing on colonial-era chocolate preparations and offering a taste of how early Americans experienced it.
Title: Chocolates: From Sacred Food to Modern Treat
Explore the cultural evolution of chocolate across continents and centuries with chocolate sommelier Estelle Tracy. Featuring historical recipes and images from the Winterthur Museum collection, this illustrated talk celebrates the country’s 250th anniversary, focusing on colonial-era chocolate preparations and offering a taste of how early Americans experienced it.
Tasting Room
11:00 am - 11:45 am Nettie Atkisson (Founder, Small Batch Education)
Title: The Chocolate Adventure: A Family-friendly, Hands-On Journey Through History with Nettie Atkisson
Discover the origins of chocolate in this fun, family friendly hands‑on history class. Learn about the earliest cacao, meet Montezuma and Cortés and a demonstration of how the Aztecs prepared their drinking chocolate. A family friendly journey from ancient rainforests to European royal courts! Children will receive a cardboard cacao pod necklace kit.
Title: The Chocolate Adventure: A Family-friendly, Hands-On Journey Through History with Nettie Atkisson
Discover the origins of chocolate in this fun, family friendly hands‑on history class. Learn about the earliest cacao, meet Montezuma and Cortés and a demonstration of how the Aztecs prepared their drinking chocolate. A family friendly journey from ancient rainforests to European royal courts! Children will receive a cardboard cacao pod necklace kit.
12:00 pm - 12:45 pm Mey Alexandra Choy Paz (HCP Project Leader, Peru)
Title: Heirloom in Action
Don't miss HCP's Project Leader in Peru Mey Choy Paz on April 24th at the DC Chocolate Festival. Mey is bringing the front lines of Peruvian cacao conservation to Washington D.C., offering an insider’s look at what it takes to protect some of the world’s finest cacao.
Her session dives into the world of biological preservation and the precision of post-harvest processing that defines Heirloom quality. Most importantly, Mey will share how the HCP is working to secure the future of the next generation, providing specialized training to farmers and the next generation of chocolate professionals.
Title: Heirloom in Action
Don't miss HCP's Project Leader in Peru Mey Choy Paz on April 24th at the DC Chocolate Festival. Mey is bringing the front lines of Peruvian cacao conservation to Washington D.C., offering an insider’s look at what it takes to protect some of the world’s finest cacao.
Her session dives into the world of biological preservation and the precision of post-harvest processing that defines Heirloom quality. Most importantly, Mey will share how the HCP is working to secure the future of the next generation, providing specialized training to farmers and the next generation of chocolate professionals.
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm Kim Wilson (Co-Founder, Cocoa Future Collaborative (501c3))
Title: Why Not Women?
Over the past decade, something beautiful has begun. Women at origin are stepping into leadership, building enterprises, and reshaping where value flows in chocolate. Why Not Women? pairs tasting from brands actively creating opportunities for women with real, on-the-ground stories about the structural barriers they still face, and how we, as chocolate lovers, can spot and support what they're growing.
Title: Why Not Women?
Over the past decade, something beautiful has begun. Women at origin are stepping into leadership, building enterprises, and reshaping where value flows in chocolate. Why Not Women? pairs tasting from brands actively creating opportunities for women with real, on-the-ground stories about the structural barriers they still face, and how we, as chocolate lovers, can spot and support what they're growing.
Saturday Afternoon (2:00pm-5:30pm)
Auditorium
2:30 pm - 3:15 pm Lauren Adler (Chief Exploration Officer, The Chocolate Explorers Club)
Title: Chocolate 101: What Every Craft Chocolate Lover Should Know
Lauren Adler has spent years introducing people to the world of craft chocolate, and she knows exactly where to start. In this Chocolate 101 session, the founder and Chief Chocophile of The Chocolate Explorers Club walks you through everything you wish you'd known before walking the festival floor — why cacao origin matters, what happens between the farm and the bar, how to taste with intention, and why that $12 bar might be worth every penny. Come curious. Leave with context.
Title: Chocolate 101: What Every Craft Chocolate Lover Should Know
Lauren Adler has spent years introducing people to the world of craft chocolate, and she knows exactly where to start. In this Chocolate 101 session, the founder and Chief Chocophile of The Chocolate Explorers Club walks you through everything you wish you'd known before walking the festival floor — why cacao origin matters, what happens between the farm and the bar, how to taste with intention, and why that $12 bar might be worth every penny. Come curious. Leave with context.
3:30 pm - 4:15 pm John Forrer (professor, George Washington University), Pathmanathan Umaharan (Cocoa Research Centre, Trinidad & Tobago), Marisol Slater (DC Chocolate Festival organizer / The Chocolate House DC)
Title: Sustainable Cocoa Supply Chains
Despite decades of effort and resources, sustainable cocoa supply chains remain aspirational, not widely operational. But keep hope alive!!! Let's discuss some lessons learned and innovative approaches that could accelerate progress rapidly.
Title: Sustainable Cocoa Supply Chains
Despite decades of effort and resources, sustainable cocoa supply chains remain aspirational, not widely operational. But keep hope alive!!! Let's discuss some lessons learned and innovative approaches that could accelerate progress rapidly.
4:30 pm - 5:15 pm Nicholas Silverman (Director of sales & marketing for kampura and Diego's Artisan Chocolate)
Title: Place of Many Trees Again: Agroforestry Cacao at Kampura and Finca Nahuatancillo
This session explores how cacao agroforestry in Guatemala is reshaping landscapes, local water systems, and flavor through the stories of Kampura and Finca Nahuatancillo.
Together, these forest-farms show how well‑designed regenerative agriculture can restore land, support rural livelihoods, and create distinctive fine‑chocolate profiles. Both producers are Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund designees, two of only twenty-one such recognitions to date, worldwide.
Title: Place of Many Trees Again: Agroforestry Cacao at Kampura and Finca Nahuatancillo
This session explores how cacao agroforestry in Guatemala is reshaping landscapes, local water systems, and flavor through the stories of Kampura and Finca Nahuatancillo.
Together, these forest-farms show how well‑designed regenerative agriculture can restore land, support rural livelihoods, and create distinctive fine‑chocolate profiles. Both producers are Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund designees, two of only twenty-one such recognitions to date, worldwide.
Tasting Room
2:30 pm - 3:15 pm Jessica Henderson (founder, Chocolate Monkey Fine Chocolate Tastings)
Title: Intersection of Psychology and Physiology in Flavor Perception
Dr. Jessica Henderson will explore how your brain creates your unique perception of flavor by integrating sensory information with memory and expectations.
While this presentation explores the palate with chocolate samples, the concepts presented are also relevant to other foods and beverages. Expand your understanding and increase your enjoyment of all the things you taste!
Title: Intersection of Psychology and Physiology in Flavor Perception
Dr. Jessica Henderson will explore how your brain creates your unique perception of flavor by integrating sensory information with memory and expectations.
While this presentation explores the palate with chocolate samples, the concepts presented are also relevant to other foods and beverages. Expand your understanding and increase your enjoyment of all the things you taste!
3:30 pm - 4:15 pm Daniel Hymel (founder, powhatan fine chocolates)
Title: Ancestral Cacao: Rediscovering One of the World’s Oldest Chocolate Lineages
In this presentation, Daniel Hymel will share the story of these remarkable trees, the Indigenous Shuar families helping to protect them, and a recent effort that has successfully cloned and planted 600 new ancestral cacao trees—effectively doubling the population of these rare genetics.
Participants will learn about the history, genetics, and flavor profile of this ancient cacao while tasting chocolate made directly from these beans.
Title: Ancestral Cacao: Rediscovering One of the World’s Oldest Chocolate Lineages
In this presentation, Daniel Hymel will share the story of these remarkable trees, the Indigenous Shuar families helping to protect them, and a recent effort that has successfully cloned and planted 600 new ancestral cacao trees—effectively doubling the population of these rare genetics.
Participants will learn about the history, genetics, and flavor profile of this ancient cacao while tasting chocolate made directly from these beans.
4:30 pm - 5:15 pm Valerie Beck (founder, Chocolate Uplift and Chicago Chocolate Tours)
Title: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Chocolate: a Lively Look at the Interlacing of Law and Chocolate at 250 Years of American History - talk and tasting
America loves chocolate, and chocolate mirrors our nation back to us through law: chocolate engages human rights and environmental law, Constitutional and corporate and criminal law, intellectual property and consumer and food protections, rights of women and of indigenous peoples, and multiple additional areas along with Supreme Court and other judicial opinions, federal and state statutes, FDA and Customs regulations, and fundamental notions of ethics, life, liberty, and happiness. Our upbeat and interactive session will include a chocolate tasting of small-batch U.S. brands as we explore chocolate through law and mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Students will be graded on a written paper analyzing a topic of law and chocolate -- just kidding: you get an "A" (and chocolate!) for attending!
Title: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Chocolate: a Lively Look at the Interlacing of Law and Chocolate at 250 Years of American History - talk and tasting
America loves chocolate, and chocolate mirrors our nation back to us through law: chocolate engages human rights and environmental law, Constitutional and corporate and criminal law, intellectual property and consumer and food protections, rights of women and of indigenous peoples, and multiple additional areas along with Supreme Court and other judicial opinions, federal and state statutes, FDA and Customs regulations, and fundamental notions of ethics, life, liberty, and happiness. Our upbeat and interactive session will include a chocolate tasting of small-batch U.S. brands as we explore chocolate through law and mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Students will be graded on a written paper analyzing a topic of law and chocolate -- just kidding: you get an "A" (and chocolate!) for attending!
